CCARC NEWS 13-39
THE PERIODIC NEWSLETTER OF THE CENTRAL COAST AMATEUR RADIO CLUB
ISSUE No 13-39 7th. November 2013
In this Issue:
- Education day Saturday.
- VK2AFY comes 4th. in section in the RD contest.
- Another “Last Man Standing” Ham Episode.
- Broke & fixed.
- Reminders.
1. Education day Saturday.
Education and assessment day – is on Saturday – 9th. November at the CCARC club rooms at Kariong. As well as the full day foundation course there will also be assessments performed. So if visiting the club rooms on Saturday please bear in mind that new amateurs are being trained and tested. At the time of writing five people have enrolled for the foundation course and one person for the Standard licence assessment. So lets hope we get a 100% pass rate and can add some more new amateurs to the local airwaves.
There will be a Bar-be-Que on at lunchtime.
Ed VK2JI.
2. VK2AFY comes 4th. in section in the RD contest.
The latest WIA AR magazine (November 2013) has the results of the Remembrance Day contest where VK2AFY came 4th. in the multi-operator single call sign section out of 10 entries in that section.
Full results are also available on the WIA RD webpage at http://www.wia.org.au/members/contests/rdcontest/
Thanks to Doug VK2MDC for organising the clubs entry and operating a large part of the time.
Interested in taking part in the next contest? Contact Doug VK2MDC about the Spring VHF/UHF Field Day contest from The Watagans on November 23rd. and 24th. and let him know what you are willing to do, to help.
Ed VK2JI
3. Another “Last Man Standing” Ham Episode.
“Last Man Standing” producer John Amodeo, NN6JA, reports that lead character Mike Baxter (Tim Allen) finally gets on the ham bands during the program’s Thanksgiving episode, which was shot in mid-October and scheduled to air on November 22 on ABC.
According to John, Mike heads to his basement ham shack to escape a house full of guests waiting for Thanksgiving dinner to be served.
This is the second “Last Man Standing” episode to include ham radio as a story element, and the first in which Allen’s character is seen operating his ham station.
Thanks to CQ Amateur radio’s newsroom for this piece (http://cqnewsroom.blogspot.com.au).
4. Broke & fixed.
VK2RAG 2m repeater. Don VK2ZCZ has switched back to the previous repeater system after apparent sensitivity and background audio noise issues were found on the replacement VK2RAG 2m repeater that was installed about 3 weeks ago. A more modern Philips 50w repeater and new controller system is now likely to replace the currently installed unit once the new unit is ready. Thanks to Don VK2ZCZ and Bob VK2ZAR for all the work they do on our repeaters.
Work continues on the 23 cm trial repeater despite some teething problems with audio quality it still needs more people to use it to confirm it’s coverage area from Somersby. It appears from some reports that the 23cm communication is getting into areas that the 2m and 70cm systems can’t. If you have 23cm capabilities please let Don VK2ZCZ know where you are able to operate the repeater from, what equipment you are using, what power output that equipment has and what antenna it is connected to.
5. Reminders.
This section lists important announcements and possibly items from previous CCARC NEWS editions that are still current and may need your input:
November’s lecture – Electromagnetic compatibility – Saturday November 23rd at 1pm.
Brian, VK2GCE will map out the EMI / EMC / EMR field and then focus on a few things we as radio amateurs can do to reduce EMI, to achieve a modicum of EMC and live more happily. With plumbing, it is always a good plan to fix the source of the leak. With EMR, it is not so easy to fix the source of EMI; so, we need to build good defences. Brian’s presentation will address: bonding, filtering, grounding, phasing, shielding and spacing.
Members sales page
Have you checked the sales page recently? Several items have been sold, but there’s still a bargain or two to be had, including several items from a business clear-out.
Anyone reading this on the website who is not yet a member of the CCARC, please consider joining by emailing ccarc @ ccarc.org.au for full details.
For what’s coming up in the next few months at the CCARC, please check the club calendar, accessible from the header on any page on the website.
